


Vienna

by bymak



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bymak/pseuds/bymak
Summary: What happens when Helen is forced to remember Vienna in Springtime.
Relationships: Helen Magnus & Nikola Tesla
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Vienna

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at FF dot net  
> All mistakes are my own! (Sorry)

Disclaimer: I don't own Sanctuary, or I would be a no aging millionaire.

**Vienna**

It was one of those infrequent, silent, and calm nights. She wasn't in the mood for being seen, so even though she would love to stand in the north's tower cornice, she decided that her room was the only place where no one would dare to interrupt her train of thought. She was sitting on the sofa under her window, looking at the stars as she remembered one earlier conversation.

_"What did you expect?" she said._

_"I don't know. Something cooler, like the Matrix… Or Vienna in springtime." He said. She turned to look at him, chewing her lower lip "Remember?" he added, lowering his tone. She turned away and quickly changed the subject._

How dared he to ask her if she remembered? How couldn't she? She could never forget that spring in Vienna. She had never returned there so she wouldn't have to fight those memories.

Those memories she thought were safely guarded on the particular part of her brain used for beautiful memories that she wouldn't dare to revive. Those memories were too special, too powerful, too painful, and too damn dangerous to revive. And even so, she just was about to dig that one out.

**Vienna, Spring 1960**

_Helen wasn't young, but she was feeling like the teenager that she never was allowed to be. They were walking hand in hand, and she was ecstatic. She couldn't hold her face still, her smile never faded. It was the first time in a long time since Helen could go out and be plain happy. She decided that she had to stop overthinking things and enjoy the first two-week vacation she took since college, or was it high school? The violent shook of her head made her companion stop and stare at her. They looked straight into their eyes, having a whole conversation that none of them was ready to voice. Then, she smiled brightly and tilted her head a little._

_"You know, I hate your mustache," Helen said, even though she had never seen him without it._

_"It's that right?" Nikola asked, with eyes widened in surprise. She nodded, biting her lower lip. "Well, if you must know, I don't like you with red hair," he confessed, and she blushed. "It's not that you don't look good, Dear Helen, it's more that you look kind of, you know?" he trailed off, and when she frowned he grinned mischievously. "Kinky," he finished._

_"Oh, you don't like my kinky hair, but you didn't complain when we were doing some kinky things," she said with a smirk._

_"Well, you know the same concept applied to different things can render different outlets," he smirked back._

_"Very well, I hate your mustache; you hate my hair. What shall we do about it?" She challenged with her eyebrow raised suggestively._

_"Oh, I love the way you think, Darling."_

_"Then which color you do suggest? Please, don't say go back to blonde, I never really liked the whole ' I'm smart blonde get over it.'"_

_"I'd go with brown, but I have my suspicions you'd rather use black."_

_"Then black it is. Can I leave some red strands?" Helen grinned, and with a playful roll of his eyes, he agreed._

_After a couple of hours, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her dark hair was running freely down her shoulders. She used the mirror to look at him, without the horrid mustache, Nikola looked exquisite. Their eyes locked, and they forgot everything else around them._

_The two weeks passed all too fast; 'time flights when you are having fun,' they both thought. Yet, they were pretending not to be bothered by how fast they were reaching their last moment together. They both pretended not to feel what they were feeling. They decided to live the moment, and they both were excellent at that._

_The shared days, turned into hours and then, all too sudden they were at the train station, and the last minutes were ticking by. Against all the odds, Helen was having difficulties with not let her tears fall._

_'Something else to add to my list of firsts,' she thought bitterly._

_Nikola, in exchange, was making the best impression of not being disturbed by their imminent departure. He was trying hard not to comfort her. They both knew it would be a terribly long time before they would be able to see each other again. Maybe, even if they could, wouldn't even get to see each other again. 'That's what happens when you die,' Tesla realized then, fighting the lump in his throat that menaced to take all his air away._

_Despite their surroundings, the silence fell around them as their eyes locked, and they held in the memories of the last shared kiss._

_The soul-searching, breathtaking, loving kiss, in which both tried to share what they couldn't bring themselves to say. Believing in that kiss or in what that kiss had shown to them was absolutely pointless. However, no matter how futile it was, they both held on that kiss, knowing that, in the days to come, it would be a memory to recall, and maybe even hope for._

_They lost the moment when the chimes of a train sounded, bringing them both back to that moment. Helen smiled sadly when she noticed it was hers the one about to depart. Nikola smiled sadly too. She looked at her hands and swore at the darn ticket that she was holding._

_"Fare thee well," he said, theatrically giving her a reassuring squeeze in her free hand._

_"Fare thee well," she said without taking her eyes from their linked hands._

_With his index, Nikola lifted her chin, and they got lost in their eyes. A timeless moment passed, and finally, out of nothing, Helen got the strength to walk away._

_"I'll see you in another lifetime, my dear!" He screamed at her._

_His words stopped her for a second as she was about to cross the wagon door._

_Helen turned around with a bright smile and looking for closure._

_Nikola smiled back in the same way._

_That was it._

_Helen's heart broke in a thousand pieces once more, and she knew that Nikola's heart broke too. Sighing, she went in._

_"She is just your maverick, Tesla," he muttered as he watched her getting lost inside the wagon. "See you in a couple of years, my beloved Helen," he vowed to himself before he too got lost in the middle of the floods of people._

_Helen got to her compartment in time to let herself cry. She cried until she got no tears left, and then she fell asleep. Not before she vowed to herself to never fall in love again and swore to try to forget that miserable day._

_"I'll see you in another lifetime, Nikola," she whispered to herself, closing that chapter of her life, for good._

And there she was now, oh so many years later, breaking once more the promise she made to herself. Remembering what she wasn't supposed to, and it was because of Nikola and his damned charm.

How was she supposed to go on now? He made her remember! Didn't he remember too? Did he not suffer that last day at all? Clearing one tear she knew was about to fall, Helen growled and got to her feet. Then, she stormed out of her room through the dark hallways of the Sanctuary, and into her wine cellar.

"What the hell were you thinking? Why? What kind of heartless creature do you think I am?" she let out at once.

"Helen?" Nikola turned around, astounded by the angry comments coming from her.

She was in her nightgown, her hair was messy, and her eyes were glistening with a mix of anger and unshed tears, his mouth dropped in awe. A hint of embarrassment was born into her at being observed in that state.

"Oh, Dear Lord, I forgot how beautiful you look in whatever state you are," Nikola whispered.

"Stop it, Nikola. Just tell me. Please, tell me why?"

"First, I have to say that I think you are one of the most caring and loving people that I know. I would never even believe you are a heartless creature. I know you love, I know how you love," he took a deep breath," and I know that once you loved me."

"Then, why?" Helen asked, her voice filled with tears.

"Then why what, Helen?" Nikola wondered, still confused. He wanted nothing more than to reach out to her, caress those tears away and maybe, kiss her one last time.

"Why did you ask?" she asked, almost whispering.

"Why did I ask what?" He asked in confusion. Then something clicked in his mind. "Oh! You want to know why I asked if you remembered?" she nodded once.

"I," he sighed guiltily and pinched the bridge of his nose. " I was happy," he said with a self-deprecating smile. "The only memory I have of being utterly happy, at peace, and I don't know, many other things at the same time…" Nikola waved. "The only memory I hold of living something so close to perfect, like that, it is of our time together that springtime," he confessed. "All these years, I wondered if you'd remembered. If you remember how it felt," he finished risking a glance towards her before focusing solely on the floor.

"How it felt what?!" Helen asked, exasperatedly.

"Being loved," Nikola whispered, his eyes still focusing on the floor while a light tint of pink covered his cheeks. Helen looked at him, and something changed.

"I do," she whispered. Her anger dissipated with his words. "For God's sake, Nikola Tesla! You are still the same annoying charming guy that I," her eyes widened as she went silent, her hand came to cover her mouth. He closed his eyes, waiting for words he knew wouldn't come, and yet, he desperately wanted to hear. He needed it to be true.

"You know," Nikola started as she didn't continue. "You were the only woman who broke my heart. You are the only one capable of mending it back together."

"I didn't do such a thing!" She defended in vain, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

"Oh, yes, you did! On the last day of that spring, you broke my heart, Helen. I knew you would, and I couldn't do anything to change it. However, I found you in another lifetime, as we'd said we would," he smiled. "That day at the catacombs, you've changed me again. That day I remembered not only the horrible feeling of my broken heart, but I remembered the laughter, the happiness," he smiled sorrowfully. "I remembered the love," he said, reaching close to her and caressing her cheek softly with the tip of his fingers.

"After that, all my plans went out to the sewers, because any of them could've made me powerful or scarier, but no plan I had would bring me back those days. You'll see, Helen, I loved you. And when I thought I hated you because you had such power over me, I was wrong. Yes, the great Nikola Tesla was mistaken! The reality was different, I was scared, madly in love, and I desperately needed you. You'll see, I love you, Helen. I always did, and after over a hundred years trying not to, I can confess to you that I still very much do."

"I… you... you love me?" she asked. Nikola nodded and lowered his head feeling embarrassed for his confession.

"You know what? You could have just said that, and we would be kissing before. But, no, now I have to go, and say nice words to you! You know too bloody well you broke my heart, Nikola!" She said, and he nodded, his head still cast down. Helen raised his face with her fingers and searched his eyes. "Yet you were the one who had my heart fixed in the first place," she whispered. "I know for sure you are the one who will fix it again."

"Are you saying?" he asked with eyes full of hope.

"Dear God, Nikola! Yes! I'm saying I remember. I remember not only feeling loved. I remember loving you as much as you loved me. You'll see, my dear Nikola, I love you, and I have loved you for a very long time."

Nikola brought her as close to him as he could, holding tightly onto her before his lips found hers.

That kiss brought back memories of a cheap hotel, on a day when the sun shone brightly through the window, and the curtains drifted following the light breeze — a place where they had shared their first soul-searching, breathtakingly loving kiss.

However, now they both had stated their feelings. And they had listened to each other confess their love for the other. Now, it was pointless to hold on to that memory. From now on, they would not need to hold on to a bittersweet memory when they could make a new one.

"You look better without your mustache," she said when they broke apart.

"And like I'd told you it would, brown suits you," he said, touching her curls. She scowled at him, and he laughed. "Well, it was that or something more in the lines of 'we will always have Vienna,' but I think a movie stole that line already."

"Yes, and that movie ends up with the girl going to one place and the guy to another," she smiled. "We are moving away from the point."

"The point being?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I love you. You love me. Now, kiss me and shut up?"

"Oh, I do love the way you think," Nikola grinned, making her chuckle until his lips stifled her laughter.

Helen sighed into the kiss, forgiving herself for thinking of that memory. Now, she was done with thinking about it and was ready to live it… again.


End file.
